Baptist, and the Eleven, and thousands of the poor and humble, found him to be the Saviour that they needed, for he was meek and lowly in heart, and they were poor in spirit, and theirs was the kingdom of heaven. So they built their hopes upon him for eternity.

Christ is a touchstone to every one of us. What think ye of Christ? is a question whose answer decides the truth or error of our belief. If he be to you only a creature, however exalted, superangelic, but still a creature, your views of the character of God, and of your own character, and of the way to be saved, and of future retribution, must be wrong. If Christ is God, and you worship him, and he made atonement for your sins, this affects the whole character of your belief. "He that hath the Son hath life; "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father." So with regard to our secret thoughts and our character; tell us how you feel toward Christ, and we will tell you whether you are a Christian, and, if a Christian, what sort of Christian; for this depends on our feelings toward him whose character and whose relation to us, as a Saviour, were intended to affect the human heart more intensely than any thing else. And such is the case. There are no feelings so intense as the feelings which Christ awakens, for or against himself. There was Julian the Apostate, who, falling in battle,

seized a handful of sand and flung it toward the sky, saying, Thou hast conquered, O Galilean. Dying Stephen, heedless of the shower of stones, cries, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Some are never greatly excited to anger, except by religion; Christ brings no peace to their homes, but a sword. In contrast with them, there are those to whom the name of Christ is music, and they are most happy when they are counted worthy to do any thing for him, and for those who love him. Each of us may see just what we are, by our feelings toward Christ: if we are indifferent, we are opposed to him; we dislike his spiritual character and precepts, and the way to be saved through him. If we love him, we are loved of his Father also. As a proof of all this, we have only to consider that last, dread sentence which Christ says he will pronounce, with the reasons on which it is based: Inasmuch as ye did it, or did it not, to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it, or did it not, to me. And what follows? "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." Are my feelings toward Christ, indicated by my treatment of those who love him, to settle the question, where I shall spend eternity? Let me see to it, that I think of Christ, and feel toward him, as the word of God requires.

The words of Simeon, as he took the infant

Saviour in his arms, suggest one more remark, which is properly deduced from his feelings and expressions.

IV. WE ARE REMINDED, BY SIMEON'S EXPERIENCE, THAT A SIGHT OF CHRIST MAKES DEATH EASY.

There is, most commonly, an effort, with the dying, to be assured of the favor of Christ; and that willingness to die, which so often changes the views and feelings of those who are approaching the grave, is owing, in most cases, to an increased sense of the Saviour's presence. For such purposes, among others, he became flesh, that we, in the hour of weakness and death, might apprehend him, as we cannot apprehend the infinite God. The presence of Christ makes death easy. He comes, and finishes his redeeming work with the believer, at death, and the sight of him makes the Christian willing to depart; and not only willing, but frequently, he says, to depart and be with Christ is far better. Simeon, with Christ in his embrace, longing to die, is a good emblem of a believer on his dying bed, when Christ, whose friend he has been, reveals himself as his Friend.

We, who preach to you, would love, as dying men, to take each of you by the hand, and say, Dear friend, you and we must have a dying bed. We know not how soon we shall find ourselves upon it.

There, the friendship and the presence of Christ is every thing; no matter what your pains are, or whom you are called to part with, the presence of Christ will make death easy. Are you a friend of Christ? When you come to die, may you claim him as a friend, by reason of your friendship to him? To have him show himself to us while the shadows fall between us and time, and to have him whisper, Fear not, for I am with thee, is worth more than a life of sinful pleasure. Be a friend of Christ in your youth, in your prime, in your advanced years, in your declining age. Many a time he will make you feel that he is your Friend, and that promise shall be yours: "AND I WILL NOT BLOT OUT HIS NAME OUT OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, BUT I WILL CONFESS HIS NAME BEFORE MY FATHER, AND BEFORE HIS ANGELS."

SERMON III.

JOHN THE BAPTIST.

MATTHEW XI. 11.

VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, AMONG THEM THAT ARE BORN OF WOMEN, THERE HATH NOT RISEN A GREATER THAN JOHN THE BAPTIST; NOTWITHSTANDING, HE THAT IS LEAST IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS GREATER THAN HE.

WHAT a testimony was this for a man to receive from the Saviour of the world! He is the Judge of character, himself the perfect Man.

They who love and serve him have this assurance, that he appreciates and loves every thing in them which is praiseworthy. There is no such honor and happiness as to have the approbation and commendation of Jesus Christ.

As we read this testimony of Christ respecting John, we naturally think of Abraham, and Moses, and Samuel, and David, and Solomon, and Elijah, and Isaiah, seven men who, in their respective classes of character and talent, have no equals in history. But of them, and of all others up to that time, the Saviour says there had not risen a greater than

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